Mahajan & Gupta Textbook of Preventive & Social Medicine (4th Ed.)[Ussama Maqbool]

Mahajan & Gupta

Textbook of
Preventive and Social Medicine


In their Esteemed Opinion....
“ I congratulate you for your bold and strenuous effort in bringing out the Textbook of
Preventive and Social Medicine for medical students in India. This book would definitely
become popular very soon in India.”
— Dr M Sudarshan, Professor and Head, Department of Community Medicine,
Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

“This book is very informative and well written and can be used as reference by community
health personnel engaged in health care delivery.”
— Dr Deoki Nandan, Professor, Department of Social and
Preventive Medicine, SN Medical College, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India

“I congratulate you for writing a good Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine.”
— Dr VN Mishra, Professor and Head, Department of Social and
Preventive Medicine, LLRM Medical College, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India

“It was a pleasure to go through this book. The contents have been brought out at the
desired standard.”
— SD Gaur, Professor and Head, Department of Preventive and
Social Medicine, BHU, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

“The Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine by Dr Mahajan and Dr Gupta is a very
good attempt.”
— Dr Abdul Rauf, Professor and Head, Department of Social and

Preventive Medicine, Government Medical College, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India


Mahajan & Gupta

Textbook of
Preventive and Social Medicine
Fourth Edition

Revised by
Rabindra Nath Roy

MBBS MD (PSM)

Associate Professor
Department of Community Medicine
Burdwan Medical College and Hospital
Burdwan, West Bengal, India

Indranil Saha

MBBS MD (Community Medicine)

Assistant Professor
Department of Community Medicine
Burdwan Medical College and Hospital
Burdwan, West Bengal, India

Authors of Previous Edition’s
MC Gupta

MBBS MD (Medicine) MPH LLB

Ex-Dean and Professor
National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, New Delhi, India
Formerly Additional Professor
All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

(Late) BK Mahajan MBBS DPH FCCP FIAPSM
Deputy Director, Health Services, Bombay State (1958-60)
Formerly, Professor of Preventive and Social Medicine at Medical College, Jamnagar (1960-73)
Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Sevagram (1973-82)
Senior Consultant, ICDS Central Technical Cell, AIIMS (1982-87)

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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the
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This book has been published in good faith that the contents provided by the authors contained herein are original, and is
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authors specifically disclaim any damage, liability, or loss incurred, directly or indirectly, from the use or application of any of
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readers should consult with a specialist or contact the manufacturer of the drug or device.

Mahajan & Gupta Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine
First Edition: 1991
Second Edition: 1995
Third Edition: 2003
Fourth Edition: 2013
ISBN 978-93-5090-187-8 978-93-5025-239-0

Typeset at JPBMP typesetting unit
Printed at


Dedicated to
My dear wife
(Late) Dr Manju Gupta
(27-1-1948—13-6-1996)
without whose
inspiration and sacrifice
this book would not have been possible
MC Gupta

Preface to the Fourth Edition
The last few years have witnessed a rapid progress in the field of Community Medicine. There was a felt need
for publication of an updated fourth edition of this book after a gap of couple of years. Many new concepts
have arisen and much more modifications have been incorporated over the past strategies. We think this edition
will also meet the expectations of the medical and nursing students, as well as the students of Public Health,
teachers of Community Medicine and the program implementers of health services.
Almost all the chapters have been thoroughly revised and updated; notably among those are epidemiology,
communicable and noncommunicable diseases, MCH and family planning, management, demography and vital
statistics, disaster, biomedical waste management, food and nutrition, immunization, geriatrics, communication,
etc. National Health Programs have also been thoroughly revised and updated. New data have been incorporated,
wherever applicable. Latest SRS and census data have also been included. Various domains that are of
importance, both in theory, practical and viva of MBBS examination have been highlighted with examples and
justification. Many postgraduate study materials have also been incorporated with references for further reading.
Various flow charts, diagrams and pictures have been introduced for clarity of understanding. Students will be
benefited for their preparation in answering MCQ for their Postgraduate Entrance Examination.
It is our earnest hope that fourth edition of this textbook will help the MBBS, Postgraduate aspirants,
Postgraduate students and the students of other public health disciplines. We will be grateful to the students and
the teachers for their valuable feedback, comments and constructive criticism. We will acknowledge and will try
our best to address those issues in the subsequent editions.

Rabindra Nath Roy
Indranil Saha


Preface to the First Edition
Preventive and social medicine is one of the most important subjects in the curriculum of a medical student.
Unlike other subjects, preventive and social medicine, community medicine and community health are the concern
not only of those specializing in these fields but of all others in the medical profession, including those engaged
in active clinical care as well as the health administrators. As a matter of fact, the subject is of serious concern
to all interested in human health and welfare, whether in the medical profession or not. The present book is

patterned on the earlier book Preventive and Social Medicine in India by Professor BK Mahajan, published in
1972. However, the marked developments in the subject during the last 20 years have necessitated extensive
changes and additions. Hence, this volume is presented as a new book in its first edition. The entire approach
is epidemiological and the subject matter is presented in a linked and continuous manner. The language and
style are simple, and attractive with emphasis on practical aspects which may be of utility not only to PHC medical
officers and health administrators but even to general practitioners.
The whole book is divided into four parts. The first part deals with the general aspects of preventive and
social medicine and its scope. The second part, comprising two-thirds of the book, is built around the
epidemiological triad. The third part deals with demography, vital statistics and biostatistics. The fourth part is
devoted to health care of different groups, and includes detailed discussion of primary health care, health policy
and the relation between health and development. The above division is objective and purposeful. It makes
the reader familiar with the essential course content of community medicine, inculcates in him the epidemiological
approach to health and disease, and prepares him to practise family medicine as a family physician. A chapter
on general practice has been added for this purpose.
Though the book is primarily written for the undergraduate students, it would be of use to the postgraduate
students as well. The number of references has been kept to a minimum. Only those references have been
included which substantiate a controversial or less widely-known point, or which relate to recent work or review.
Inter-relation between health and development, health manpower planning, communicable disease
epidemiology in natural disasters, mental health program and the program for control of acute respiratory infections
have been discussed in detail. The national ICDS program has been given adequate coverage. Care has been
taken to include practical aspects in relation to diagnosis and management of leprosy, which may have to be
tackled by many PHC medical officers and general physicians. Special attention has been paid to the chapters
on social environment, host factors and health, noncommunicable diseases, food and nutrition, demography
and vital statistics, health policy, planning management and administration, primary health care, health education,
information and communication, maternity and child health, school health, geriatrics, mental health and health
service through general practitioners so as to present the concerned topic in a most up-to-date and easily
comprehensible manner.
Some sections, such as those relating to water supply and disposal of wastes, could have been reduced further
by omitting certain details; the latter have been retained in view of the requirement of public health administrators.
The existing curricula of various universities, as also the suggestions from eminent professors, have been given

due consideration while preparing this book. We shall feel amply rewarded if this book is found useful for students,
teachers, public health administrators and PHC medical officers.
We are grateful to a large number of colleagues in different parts of India, who spared their valuable time
and effort to go through the manuscript, offered constructive suggestions and incorporated appropriate changes
wherever necessary. These include Professor YL Vasudeva and Professor Sunder Lal (Rohtak), Professor RD
Bansal and Professor SC Chawla (LHMC, Delhi), Professor OP Aggarwal (UCMS, Delhi), Professor G Anjaneyulu
(Hyderabad), Dr GS Meena (MAMC, Delhi), Professor IC Verma, Dr Bir Singh and Dr Ravi Gupta (AIIMS, Delhi),
Dr GVS Murthy and Dr K Madhavani (Wardha), Dr LN Balaji (UNICEF) and Professor KK Wadhera (CMC,
Ludhiana). Professor Bansal, Professor Anjaneyulu and Professor Wadhera, in particular, took special pains to


Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine

x

go through the entire manuscript critically at various stages of preparation. We owe special gratitude to Professor
G Anjaneyulu, for writing a foreword to the first edition for the book after going through the entire manuscript.
We are thankful to the American Public Health Association, Washington, and the Institute of Health and
Nutrition, Delhi, India for permission to reproduce certain portions of the text from their publications. Reference
to original source has been made wherever this has been done. We must thank to M/s Jaypee Brothers Medical
Publishers (P) Ltd, New Delhi, India, who have done a marvellous job in record time, in spite of delay from
our side. We must also acknowledge the contribution of our typists Shri Rameshwar Dayal and Shri Murli Manohar,
whose excellent typing skills greatly reduced the drudgery associated with drafting and redrafting of a manuscript.
Lastly, we must express our heartfelt thanks and indebtedness to our wives who silently, and sometimes not
so silently, suffered—their husbands continuously lost in books, papers and proofs in utter disregard of their
domestic responsibilities.

MC Gupta
(Late) BK Mahajan

Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the people without whom this book would not have been possible, they are our colleagues,
students and our family. We are thankful to the Almighty for the ability, circumstances and health that were
needed to write the book. Last but not the least both the editors thankful to M/s Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers
(P) Ltd, Kolkata and New Delhi, India to give this special opportunity to update and revise
Mahajan & Gupta Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine.


Contents
PART I: GENERAL
1. Evolution of Preventive and Social Medicine

1

• Historical Background 1; • Public Health, Preventive Medicine, Social Medicine and Community
Medicine 1

2. Basic Concepts in Community Medicine

4

• Why to Study Community Medicine? 4; • Concepts of Health 5; • Determinants of Health 6;
• Indicators of Health 7; • Concepts of Disease 8; • Concepts of Prevention 8

PART II: EPIDEMIOLOGICAL TRIAD
3. Epidemiological Approach in Preventive and Social Medicine

11

• Concept of Epidemiology 11; • Definition of Epidemiology 11; • The Epidemiological Triad 12;
• The Host 13; • Web of Causation 15; • Epidemiological Wheel 15; • Natural History of Disease 15;
• Epidemiological Studies 21; • Aim and Objectives of Epidemiology 22; • Clinical vs Epidemiological
Approach 22; • Applications and Uses of Epidemiology 23

4. General Epidemiology

28

• Types of Epidemiological Study 28; • Study Design 29; • Cohort Study (Follow-up Study) 34;
• Types of Therapeutic or Clinical Trials 38

5. Physical Environment: Air

45

• Air 45; • Physical Agents in Atmosphere 46; • Chemical Agents in Atmosphere 47;
• Biological Agents in Atmosphere 50; • Ventilation 50

6. Physical Environment: Water

52

• Sources of Water 52; • Water Supply and Quantitative Standards 55; • Water Quality and Qualitative
Standards 56; • Special Treatments in Water Purification 64; • Swimming Pool Hygiene 65;
• Water Problem in India 65

7. Physical Environment: Housing

67

• Types of Soil 67; • Soil and Health 67; • Housing 68; • Harmful Effects of Improper Housing 69;
• Recent Trends in Housing 69

8. Physical Environment: Wastes and their Disposal
• Wastes and Health 71; • Recycling of Wastes 71; • Refuse Disposal 72; • Excreta Disposal 73;
• Sewerage System 77; • Sullage Disposal 81

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Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine

9. Physical Environment: Place of Work or Occupation (Occupational Health)

83

• Physicochemical Agents 83; • Physical Agents 83; • Effects on Gastrointestinal Tract 88;
• Biological and Social Factors 88; • Offensive Trades and Occupations 88;
• Occupational Diseases and Hazards 89; • Prevention of Occupational Diseases 92;
• Occupational Health Legislation 93; • Factories Act, 1948 93; • The Employees State Insurance Act,
1948 95; • Worker Absenteeism 97

10. Environmental Pollution

99

• Air Pollution 99; • Water Pollution 102; • Soil and Land Pollution 103; • Radioactive Pollution 104;
• Thermal Pollution 105; • Noise Pollution 106

11. Biological Environment

107

• Rodents 107; • Arthropods 109; • Insect Control 120

12. Social Environment

126

• Social Sciences 126; • Cultural Anthropology 129; • Social Psychology 130; • Economics 130;
• Political Science 130; • Social Environment and Health 136

13. Health and Law

138

• Laws Related to Health 138; • Law and the Rural Masses 138

14. Host Factors and Health

144

• Age, Sex, Marital Status and Race 144; • Physical State of the Body 144;
• Psychological State and Personality 145; • Genetic Constitution 145; • Defense Mechanisms 147;
• Nutritional Status 148; • Habits and Lifestyle 149

15. General Epidemiology of Communicable Diseases

153

• Epidemiological Description of Communicable Diseases 161

16. Respiratory Infections

170

• Nonspecific Viral Infections 170; • Specific Viral Infections 175; • Nonspecific Bacterial Infections 185;
• Specific Bacterial Infections 186; • Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme 200

17. Water and Food-borne (Alimentary) Infections

214

• Cholera and Diarrhea 214; • Food Poisoning 228; • Enteric Fevers 230; • Brucellosis (ICD-A23.9)
(Undulent Fever, Malta Fever) 233; • Bacillary Dysentery or Shigellosis (ICD-A03.9) 234;
• Amebiasis (ICD-A06.9) 235; • Giardiasis (ICD-A07.1) 237; • Balantidiasis (ICD-A07.0) 237;
• Viral Hepatitis (ICD—B15-B19) 238; • Poliomyelitis (ICD-A80.9) 244

18. Contact Diseases

260

• Leprosy (ICD-A30.9) 260; • Sexually Transmitted Diseases or Venereal Diseases 272;
• National STD Control Program 278; • Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) (ICD-B24) 279;
• National AIDS Control Program 288; • Trachoma (ICD-A71.9) 301; • Fungus Infections 302

19. Arthropod-borne Diseases

xiv

• Malaria (ICD-B54) 305; • Filariasis (ICP-B74.9) 319; • Arboviruses 325; • Yellow Fever (ICD-A95.9) 326;
• Dengue (ICD-A90) 329; • Chikungunya Fever (ICD-A92.0) 330; • Japanese Encephalitis (ICD-A83.0) 330;
• Sandfly Fever (ICD-A93.1) (Pappataci Fever) 332; • Leishmaniasis (ICD-B55.9) 332;
• Plague (ICD-A20.9) 335; • Kyasanur Forest Disease (ICD-A98.2) 338;

305


Contents

• Epidemic Typhus (Louse Borne Typhus) (ICD-A75.0) 339; • Trench Fever (ICD-A79.0) 340;
• Scrub Typhus (Tsutsugamushi Fever) (ICD-A75.3) 340; • Tick Typhus (ICD-A77.9) (Rocky Mountain
Spotted Fever) 341; • Relapsing Fever (ICD-A68.9) 341

20. Miscellaneous Zoonoses, Other Infections and Emerging Infections

343

• Miscellaneous Zoonoses 343; • Other Infections 350; • Emerging Infections 352

21. Epidemiology of Noncommunicable Diseases

353

• Cancer 354; • Cardiovascular Diseases 362; • Obesity 370; • Diabetes 372; • Accidents 374;
• Blindness 376; • Disease Surveillance 382; • Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) 385

22. Food and Nutrition

388

• Epidemiological Aspects 388; • Nutrients and Proximate Principles of Food 389;
• Food and Food Groups 398; • Preservation of Foods and Conservation of Nutrients 404;
• Diet Standards and Diet Planning 406; • National Nutrition Programs 419; • Food Hygiene 423;
• National Nutrition Policy 424

PART III: HEALTH STATISTICS, RESEARCH AND DEMOGRAPHY
23. Biostatistics

434

• Presentation of Statistics 435; • Variability and Error 438; • Analysis and Interpretation of Data 439;
• Sampling 441; • Sampling Variations 442; • Tests of Significance 443

24. Research Methodology

450

• Purpose of Research and Broad Areas of Research 450; • Research Approaches in Public Health 451;
• Case Studies 451; • Surveys 452; • Designing Research Protocol 455;
• Ethical Considerations in Research 458

25. Demography and Vital Statistics

460

• Demography 460; • Vital Statistics 463; • Interpretation, Conclusions, and Recommendations 472

PART IV: HEALTH CARE AND SERVICES

26. Health Planning, Administration and Management

476

• Health Planning 476; • Health Administration and Management 489;
• Government Health Organization in India 497; • National Health Policy 500; • Health and Development 517

27. Health Economics

524

• Basic Concepts 524; • Some Practical Considerations 528

28. Health Care of the Community

531

• World Health Day 2009: Make Hospitals Safe in Emergencies 531; • Imbalance in Health Care and its
Causes 531; • Health Problems in India 532; • Health Care 532; • Rural Primary Health Care 534;
• National Health Programs 548

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Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine

29. Information, Education, Communication and Training in Health

555

• Definitions and Concepts 555; • Role and Need of Health Education and Promotion 558;
• Objectives of Health Education and Promotion 559; • The Process of Change in Behavior 560;
• Principles of Health Education 561; • Communication in Health Education and Training 563;
• Education and Training Methodology 564; • Planning of Health Education 568;
• Levels of Health Education 568; • Experience and Examples of Health Education 570;
• Child to Child Program 571; • Education and Training System in Health and FW Institutions 571;
• IEC Training Scheme 572; • Social Marketing 574

30. Maternal and Child Health

576

• World Health Day 2005: Make Every Mother and Child Count 576; • Maternal Morbidity and Mortality 577;
• Pediatric Morbidity and Mortality 579; • Maternal and Child Health Services 581;
• National Programs for Maternal and Child Health 591; • Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) Program 591;
• National Immunization Program 595

31. Family Planning and Population Policy

605

• Scope of Family Planning Services 605; • Demographic Considerations in Family Planning 606;
• Qualities of a Good Contraceptive 606; • Methods of Family Planning 607; • Emergency Contraceptive 615;
• National Family Welfare Program 620; • National Population Policy 627; • Social Dimensions of Family
Planning and Population Control 631

32. School Health Services

633

• Health Status of School Children 633; • School Health Service in India 633; • Special Needs of the School
Child 634; • School Health Program 634

33. Geriatrics: Care and Welfare of the Aged

637

• World Health Day 2012: Aging and Health 637; • The Problems of the Old 637; • Administrative Aspects 640

34. Mental Health

642

• Prevalence of Mental Illness 642; • Types of Mental Disorders 643; • Drug Addiction 644;
• Mental Health Care 646; • Prevention and Control of Mental Illness 646;
• National Mental Health Program 647

35. Health Services through General Practitioners
• What is General Practice? 650;

650

• Components of Family Medicine or General Practice 651

36. International Health

654

• Pre-who Efforts 654; • World Health Organization 655; • Other UN Agencies 658;
• Bilateral Agencies 660; • Nongovernment Agencies 661

37. Biomedical Waste Management
• Concept and Definition 663; • Importance and Nature of Biomedical Waste 663;
• Health Hazards Associated with Poor Hospital Waste Management 664;
• Disposal of Biomedical Waste 665; • Treatment 666;
• Biomedical Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998 668

xvi

663


671

Contents

38. Anthrax and Bioterrorism
• Anthrax 671; • Bioterrorism 673

39. Nosocomial Infections*

674

40. Oral Diseases

675

• Major Statements 675; • Oral Cancer 675; • Oral Precancer 676; • Oral Mucosal Diseases 676;
• Periodontal Disease 676; • Dental Caries 677

41. Disaster Management

680

• World Health Day 2008: Protecting Health from Climate Change 680; • General Concepts 680;
• Natural Disasters 684; • Biological Disasters 686; • Chemical Disasters 688;
• Natural Disaster Management in India 690; • Disaster Management Structure in India 691;
• Disaster Management Structure in Health Sector 691; • Non-governmental Organizations 692

Index

693

xvii


PART I: General

1

Evolution of Preventive and
Social Medicine

Preventive and Social Medicine is comparatively a
newcomer among the academic disciplines of medicine.
Previously it was taught to medical students as hygiene
and public health. This name was later changed to
preventive and social medicine when it was realized that
the subject encompassed much more than merely the
principles of hygiene and sanitation and public health

engineering. The name preventive and social medicine
emphasizes the role of: (a) disease prevention in general
through immunization, adequate nutrition, etc. in
addition to the routine hygiene measures, and (b) social
factors in health and disease.
The name preventive and social medicine has gained
wide acceptance in the past twenty-five years or so
because of its broader and more comprehensive
outlook on medicine, integrating both prevention and
cure. Today, it implies a system of total health care
delivery to individuals, families and communities at the
clinic, in the hospital and in the community itself.

Historical Background
During last 150 years, there have been two important
“revolutions”. The industrial revolution in 1830 was
associated with the discovery of steam power and led
to rapid industrializations, resulting in concentration of
wealth in the cities and, consequently, migration from
rural to urban areas. The net result was that on the one
hand the villages were neglected and, on the other, the
towns and cities witnessed rapid haphazard expansion,
often leading to creation of urban slums. These changes
brought in their wake and more complex health
problems in rural as well as urban areas which ultimately
led to development of the concept of public health. The
social revolution occurred around 1940, during the
Second World War. The social revolution brought into
force the concept of ‘Welfare State’. It envisaged the
total well being of man, paying major attention to the

forgotten majority living in the villages. It was aimed at
fighting the three enemies of man—poverty, ignorance
and ill-health on a common platform. This followed the
realization that health was not possible without

improvement in economic condition or education and
vice versa.
Among the developing countries, India gave a lead
for bringing about the total well being of rural people
by instituting the remarkable Community Development
Program (1951). For intensive all-round development,
the country was divided into Community Development
Blocks in which ill-health was to be fought through the
agency of primary health centers as recommended by
the Bhore Committee. It may be mentioned that the
concept of public health was fairly well developed in
ancient Indian. Adequate proof of community health
measures adopted during Harappa Civilization as far as
5000 years ago has been found in the old excavations
at Mohenjo-Daro and at Lothal near Ahmedabad in the
form of soakpits, cesspools and underground drainage.

Public Health, Preventive
Medicine, Social Medicine and
Community Medicine
Traditionally, a young man planning to enter the medical
college has in mind the picture of a patient in agony,
in relieving whose suffering by medicines he considers
himself to be amply rewarded. He always thinks of
alleviating the suffering of a patient but rarely about the

prevention of such suffering at the level of the individual
patient, his family or his community. No doubt he has
to play a very important role in meeting the curative
needs of society but that is not all. The community in
the past has felt satisfied with that curative role. But now
the developing society, in India and elsewhere, expects
much more from the doctor, and the people are
gradually becoming more and more conscious of their
health needs. These varied expectations are reflected
in the fact that the subject has been practised in the past
under different names as discussed below.

Public Health
It was defined by Winslow (1851) as the science and
art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting


PART I: General

health and efficiency through organized community
measures such as control of infection, sanitation, health
education, health services and legislation, etc. Public
Health developed in England around the middle of the
nineteenth century. Edwin Chadwick, a pleader, the
then Secretary of Poor Law Board (constituted under
Poor Law Act passed in 1834) championed and cause
of community health and the first Public Health Act was
passed in 1848. This signified the birth of public health.
Public Health in India followed the English pattern
but the progress was extremely slow during the British

regime. It started after 1858 when a Royal Commission
was sent to find the reasons for heavy morbidity and
mortality among European troops in India due to
malaria and some other preventable diseases. The
Public Health Departments started as vaccination
departments and later as Sanitation Departments at the
Center as well as in the Provinces around 1864. There
was a long tussle whether the Sanitation or Public Health
Department should be responsible directly to the
Government or to the Surgeon General-in-Charge of
Hospitals and Medical Education. It took almost 40
years for the British Government to decide in 1904 that
Public Health Departments should function separately.
The designations of Sanitary Commissioner and Assistant
Sanitary Commissioner were changed to those of
Director and Assistant Director of Public Health. Thus
curative and preventive departments worked separately
as Medical and Public Health Departments. This continued in India even after independence for some time,
though the idea of integration started at the beginning
of the Second World War. A recommendation to this
effect was made by the Bhore Committee in 1946.

Preventive Medicine
Preventive medicine developed as a specialty only after
Louis Pasteur propagated in 1873 the germ theory of
disease followed by discovery of causative agents of
typhoid, pneumonia, tuberculosis, cholera and
diphtheria within the next decade. It gained further
impetus during subsequent years from the following
developments:

• Development of several specific disease preventive
measures before the turn of the century (antirabies
treatment, cholera vaccine, diphtheria antitoxin and
antityphoid vaccine).
• Discovery and development of antiseptics and
disinfectants.
• Discovery of modes of transmission of diseases
caused by germs. Transmission of malaria, yellow
fever and sleeping sickness had been elucidated
before the turn of the century.
It may be said in retrospect that when public health
2 gained roots with the passage of the Public Health Act,
the emphasis was on environmental sanitation alone.

With the advent of the specialty of preventive medicine,
emphasis was also given to prevention of diseases.
These included not only infective diseases but also others
such as nutritional deficiency diseases.

Social Medicine
It is defined as the study of the man as a social being
in his total environment. It is concerned with the health
of groups of individuals as well as individuals within
groups. The term social medicine gained currency in
Europe around 1940.
In 1949, a separate department of Social Medicine
was started at Oxford by Professor Ryle. The concept
of social medicine is based upon realization of the
following facts:
• Suffering of man is not due to pathogens alone. It

can be partly considered to be due to social causes
(social etiology).
• The consequences of disease are not only physical
(pathological alterations due to pathogens) but also
social (social pathology).
• Comprehensive therapeutics has to include social
remedies in addition to medical care (social
medicine).
• Social services are often needed along with medical
care services.
Interest in social medicine began to decline with the
development of epidemiology. The Royal Commission
on Medical Education substituted in 1968 the term
social medicine by community medicine in its report
(Todd Report).

Preventive and Social Medicine
As clarified above, preventive medicine and social medicine cover different areas, though both are concerned
with health of the people. This is why the combined
name Preventive and Social Medicine was suggested to
provide a holistic approach to health of the people. This
name was preferred to the earlier name public health
because the former had come to be visualized as a
discipline dealing mainly with sanitation, hygiene and
vaccination. However, the term public health has now
once again become fashionable in England.1

Community Medicine
It has been defined as “The field concerned with the
study of health and disease in the population of a

defined community or group. Its goal is to identify the
health problems and needs of defined populations
(community diagnosis) and to plan, implement and
evaluate the extent to which health measures effectively
meet these needs”. 2 Broadly, one could state that
community medicine, while encompassing the broad


•
•
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•
•
•

Father of Indian surgery: Sushruta
First distinguished epidemiologist: Sydenham
Great sanitary awakening: Edwin Chadwick

Father of public health: Cholera
Deprofessionalization of medicine: Primary health care
First vaccine developed: Smallpox
Term vaccination: Edward Jenner
Term vaccine: Louis Pasteur
Citrus fruits in prevention of scurvy: James Lind
John Snow: Cholera
William Budd: Typhoid
Robert Koch: Anthrax
Germ theory of disease: Louis Pasteur
Multi-factorial causation of disease: Pattenkoffer
Social medicine: Virchow
Growth chart: First designed by David Morley
First country to socialize medicine completely: Russia
First country to introduce compulsory sickness insurance:
Germany

Some milestones and history of public health:
• Father of Medicine: Hippocrates (Greatest physician in Greek
medicine)
• Father of Indian Medicine: Charak
• Concept of bare foot doctors and accupuncture: Chinese
medicine
• Yang and Yin principle: Chinese medicine
• Father of surgery: Ambroise Pare

References
1. King, Maurice. National Medical Journal of India,
1992;5:189-90.
2. Last JM. A Dictionary of Epidemiology. London: Oxford

University Press, 1983.

CHAPTER 1: Evolution of Preventive and Social Medicine

scope of preventive and social medicine, lays special
emphasis on providing primary health care.
It may be remembered that five of the eight components of primary health care, as described later in
Chapter 28, are related to clinical activities. The modern
day message is that the discipline variously labelled in
the past as public health or preventive and social
medicine cannot be divorced from health care, including
clinical care of the community. It is in recognition of this
wider role that the Medical Council of India has recently
decided to label the discipline as Community Medicine
in place of Preventive and Social Medicine. In a recent
case decided by the Supreme Court of India the issue
was whether the Department of Preventive and Social
Medicine in a Medical College is a Clinical or Paraclinical
Department. It was held that it is a Clinical Department.

3


2

Basic Concepts in
Community Medicine

In this chapter, we will first consider why should a
medical student study community medicine. Then we

shall discuss the basic concepts related to health, disease
and prevention.

Why to Study Community
Medicine?
Before the student starts studying community medicine,
he must have motivation to study it. Motivation can follow
only when he can get a clear answer to the question—
“I want to become a doctor, treat patients and reduce their
suffering. Why should I study community medicine at all”?
Let us try to answer this question. Some of the reasons
why a medical student should take interest in community
medicine and study it seriously are given below:
Treatment of patients: A doctor’s aim should be to
treat a patient, not to treat a disease. For example, a
patient may present to a doctor with malnutrition,
tuberculosis or diarrhea. The doctor’s responsibility does
not end with prescribing nutritious diet, antitubercular
drugs or fluid therapy. If he does so, he would merely
be treating a disease episode, not the patient. In order
to understand this better, let us imagine three scenarios.
1. Imagine yourself sitting in a busy pediatric outpatient
clinic. A mother has just brought in her fifth child,
a boy aged two years. He has sunken eyes, wizened
appearance, wasted muscles, pot belly, bow legs and
a skin and bones appearance. You chide the mother
for her “uncaring attitude” and ignorance and scold
her for coming so late. You prescribe a dose of
vitamin A and an antihelminthic, give cursory advice
on nutrition and send her away. The case sheet is

closed and you call out the next patient. You learn
after 6 months that the child died some time ago.
2. Imagine a different scenario. This time you are sitting
in a busy medical OPD. A 30-year-old mother of
three children presents with cough of three months
duration, loss of weight, hemoptysis and continuous
fever. You put your stethoscope to her chest and
before you have time to blink your eyes, the diagnosis
stares you in the face. You prescribe antitubercular
drugs, record the notes and send her to the
dispensary, expecting the staff there to give her

detailed information about the medication. When the
child and woman come back a few months later in
a worse condition with the same recurrent problem,
your conscience is pricked. Now it becomes obvious
that there is something wrong with the system. Medical
care itself is not sufficient. Individual illness is itself
symptomatic of a wider social malady afflicting the
individual, the family and the community.
3. Let us now look at the situation existing in many of
our remote, ill connected villages. In a small hamlet
cut off from modern civilization, a male infant aged
eight months, the only child of his parents and the
fond hope of his grandparents, suffers from diarrhea.
There are no trained health functionaries in the
village. The nearest hospital is 35 kilometers away.
The parents, being landless laborers, have no means
to reach the nearest hospital. Within 12 hours the
child’s condition becomes critical. The mother gives

the child some herbal decoctions as advised by the
local dai. The result: no improvement. Within another
six hours the child takes his last breath. With all its
technological sophistication, does modern medicine
have an answer for this unwarranted death? Unless
technological breakthroughs are supplemented by
“social revolution” to communicate information
effectively to the thousands who need them, they are
of no avail. Cheap interventions like ORS can
become meaningful only if people are armed with
knowledge about them and put this knowledge into
practice whenever needed. This is an area where
community medicine practice can help.
It is clear from the above three realistic examples
that for treating a patient in the real sense of the word,
a doctor has to know more than clinical medicine; he
has to know the preventive and social aspects of disease.
Social equity: Resources for health care are limited. These
resources must be equitably distributed among the people.
For the cost of one big hospital, it is possible to create 50
small accessible health posts in the community. For one
patient needing coronary bypass surgery, there are
thousands in need of treatment for diarrhea, skin disease,
respiratory infection, fever and hepatitis, etc. Who should
get priority when it comes to providing free medical care
through the country’s health system—the bureaucrat or
politician who needs sophisticated cardiac care or the


discipline of community medicine. Knowledge of

community dynamics, community skills and cultural
factors related to health improves the doctor-patient
interaction and directly leads to increased patient
confidence and improved compliance.

Health services planning: The needs of the many
should take precedence over those of the few. This issue
becomes even more complex and critical by our
knowledge that those who are in the greatest need of
health care may not even know about their need; even
if they do, they may not be able to seek health care.
How can we come to know what the population’s health
needs are? Do we even know whether health is a priority
for most people? And what are the reasons which prevent
them from seeking help at designated health facilities?
Such questions must be answered before health services
are planned for people. Experience of community
medicine can considerably help in this regard.

Health team leadership: Health practice is a team
effort and the doctor is the team leader. The varied
knowledge encompassed within the ambit of community
medicine will make the doctor a strong team leader and
an able health administrator.

Doctor’s responsibility: At the center of a moralistic
debate is the question of a doctor’s responsibility. To
whom is a doctor responsible? Only to those who
come to the clinic or also to those who need his
services but cannot come to the clinic? Where does

the responsibility end? We must realize that the health
sector in a country cannot be divorced from the
country’s economic or social fabric. Sitting in an ivory
tower may isolate us but cannot insulate us from
reality—the situation existing in the country. Thus
modern medicine has to extend itself outside the
confines of the four walls of a hospital and seek
solutions at an affordable cost. It is not enough to
have theoretical knowledge and the pharmaceutical
prescriptions to promote health and manage disease
in the community. We must also necessarily have a
system of health care delivery that can implement the
feasible solutions and make them available to as many
as possible at a cost that the country and the
community can afford. Community medicine strives
to provide the appropriate solutions in this regard.
Examples are the national programs for malaria, filaria,
tuberculosis, AIDS, iodine deficiency diseases, diarrheal
disease, anemia, vitamin A deficiency, etc.
Patient’s queries: Many a time a doctor is confronted
with the question—“Doctor, what is the chance that I
may get carcinoma of the lung since I smoke 20
cigarettes a day”? or, “Doctor, I am suffering from
tuberculosis. Can I breastfeed my child”? Answers to
these questions are only possible if one is familiar with
the natural history of disease, its etiology and the myriad
risk factors and their interactions. These are addressed
by community medicine.
Interaction with patients: Even doctors who have
decided to set up private practice can benefit from the

Concepts of Health

CHAPTER 2: Basic Concepts in Community Medicine

thousands of unimmunized, malnourished children and
pregnant women who have no access to simple technology
like growth monitoring, ORS, immunization, antenatal care,
etc.? Only a thorough knowledge of principles of community
medicine can provide answers to such dilemmas.

Health is one of the most difficult terms to define. Health
can mean different things to different people. To some
it may mean freedom from any sickness or disease while
to some it may mean harmonious functioning of all body
systems. It may be construed as a feeling of “wholeness”
and a happy frame of mind. At the center of the debate
is whether health denotes a positive quality or whether
it should be understood or defined in terms of the
absence of a negative quality, i.e. freedom from disease.
Modern medicine or modern medical practice tends to
view health as simply the state of absence of all known
diseases. Doctors are too busy fighting disease to be
unduly bothered about health. Even when they are
caring for well babies, the parameter chosen to so define
a baby is in terms of absence of congenital abnormalities
or postnatal deleterious effects. When doctors spend time
to screen adult populations for carcinoma of the cervix,
hypertension or the like, their focus of interest is on
absence of these morbid conditions. Thus the emphasis

in modern medicine has been on freedom from disease.
If this be the yardstick, then what does one strive for?
If the best is to be the goal, health necessarily needs to
be defined in a positive fashion.
The WHO (1948) has attempted to construct a
positive definition of Health and has described Health
as “a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely an absence of disease or infirmity.1
Later on (1978), it has been added as to lead a “socially
and economically productive life”. This is an allencompassing definition and clearly places health on a
higher pedestal in comparison to disease. This definition,
however, refers to an ideal state which one strives to
achieve, though one may not be able to do so. There
has been criticism that using such a yardstick, very few
people would be categorized as healthy since almost
everyone whould have some grade of ill health or
abnormality, may be in a clinical, subclinical,
pathological or biochemical sense. It is perhaps best to
talk of the WHO ideal of positive health as the top of
the ladder while other categories of health status may
occupy lower rungs. A diseased state may be categorized 5
at the lowest rung of the ladder.


PART I: General

Such a categorization of health is skin to a spectrum,
with positive health at one end and a diseased state at
the other end. This conceptualization permits one to talk
of health as a dynamic state capable of moving up or
down the ladder, rather than a static state in equilibrium.

This is appropriate because the health status cannot
remain constant for an individual, family, community
or country over a period of time.
Let up now look at the components of the WHO
definition, i.e. physical, social and mental well-being.
Physical well-being is most easily understood by all
of us. Physical health relates to the anatomical,
physiological and biochemical functioning of the human
body. Thus the attributes of physical health denote
normalcy of the body structure and organs and their
proper functioning. One should remember that a
“normal state” in medicine is based on the law of
averages and the extent of deviation from the average
or the mean. Thus the normal state for a European may
be different as compared to the Asians. If the deviation
is excessive, it may constitute an abnormal situation. The
selection of the limits of “normalcy”, even in statistical
terms such as 2 standard deviations from the mean, is
an arbitrary cut off point. Thus the line dividing normal
and abnormal is very thin near the preselected limits.
It should also be remembered that these limits of
normalcy can change over time or generations.
Various modes of assessment of physical health are
available, e.g. height, weight, muscle mass, head circumference, serum estimations, physiological tests of functioning such as forced expiratory volume, etc. but all of
them define normalcy in statistical terms and in relation
to the risk of developing a particular disease, e.g.
elevated serum cholesterol related to cardiac disease, etc.
Social well-being is more difficult to define. In its
simplest connotation, social health means that level of
health which enables a person to live in harmony with

his surroundings. Man is, after all, a social animal. He
both learns from and contributes to society. Health is
both a product of and a determinant of social values.
The cultural and ethnic background, the traditions and
mores, the economic and literacy levels, the needs and
perceptions are all important in the consideration of social
health. To measure social health is much more difficult
but social scientists have tried to make such measurements more objective. Thus social health can be
measured by attitude scales, socioeconomic status, level
of literacy, employment status, etc. All these measures,
however, are indirected measures of social health.
Mental well-being is perhaps the most abstract component to describe. Recent developments in psychiatry and
psychology have helped in defining features of mental
health in a better fashion. A positive mental health state
indicates that the individual enjoys his routine; there are
6 no undue conflicts, nor frequent bouts of depression or
elevation of mood, he has harmonious relations within the

family and community spheres and is not unduly
aggressive. However, there may be transient digression into
the zone of the abnormal, especially under stress or duress.
Tests have been developed in recent decades which indicate
the mental health status of individuals. These include tests
for IQ, personality tests, thematic appreciation tests and
projective techniques.
Spiritual health may be construed as a component
of mental health. In societies like the Indian society,
religion has played an important role in shaping the
cultural ethos. Many individuals strongly believe in the
supernatural. In such situations a positive mental health

embraces spiritual health. Spiritual health may help to
resolve both internal as well as external conflicts.
Many a time doctors are approached by patients
with vague complaints like generalized aches, disinterest
in work, easy fatiguability, etc. However, no abnormality
is detected on examination. Are these individuals to be
classified as “healthy” or in poor health? Though they
may not be actually diseased, they may also not be
labelled as healthy because they perceive themselves as
not being in good health, and their mental health is
thus compromised. Health, therefore, is not a constant
entity but a relative state. It is relative to time as well
as to individuals. The threshold of pain is not the same
in any two individuals and so their perception of a
healthy state is obviously different. Therefore health
appears to be a matter of degree. Almost every
individual’s state of health can potentially improve.2

Determinants of Health
What is it that results in good health, optimum health
or positive health? It is certain that the health status
cannot be the result of one particular activity. Many
influences have a bearing on health. The influences
which affect health and well-being are called
determinants of health. Some of these determinants are:
Genetic configuration: The health of a population or
an individual is greatly dependent upon the genetic
constitution of populations. These genetic factors may
be overshadowed by other factors but still play a substantial role. Genetic traits related to certain enzymes
(e.g. G-6-PD deficiency) or HLA markers (e.g. diabetes)

can lead to a change in health status.
Level of development: Economic and social
development helps to improve health status. Such
development potentially removes many deleterious
factors in the external environment of man. However,
affluence can also bring many problems in its wake.
These are related to the lifestyle adopted by the affluent.
Lifestyle: Contemporary Western society is nearing the
pinnacle of socioeconomic development. This has led
to improved health facilities and increased health
awareness. With improved literacy and better


Environment: The physical, social and biological
environment of man is a very important determinant
of health. Poor environmental sanitation, inadequate
safe drinking water, excessive levels of atmospheric
pollution, etc. are important determinants in the physical
environment affecting health. The socioeconomic status,
employment potential, harmonious marital
relationships, positive employer-employee relationship,
etc. are all important factors in man’s social
environment. The biological environment is composed
of disease bearing arthropods, insects, domestic and
milch animals, etc. All the members of the animal
kingdom can compromise health status of man.
Health infrastructure: Accessible and acceptable health
facilities have a direct bearing on health status. If primary
health care facilities are available in the vicinity and such
facilities are utilized by the population, the health of

individuals and communities is bound to improve.

Indicators of Health
An index is an objective measure of an existing situation.
Indices are generally defined as relative numbers
expressing the value of a certain quantity as compared
with another.3 In relation to health trends, the term
indicator is to be preferred to index as indices are much
more precise.4 More recently it has been suggested that
a health index is better considered as an amalgamation
of health indicators.5 Indicators are variables which help
to measure changes. They are most often resorted to
when a direct measure of the change is not possible.
As a matter of fact, health being a holistic concept,
health change cannot be measured in specified units—
it can only be reflected by health indicators.

Characteristics of an Indicator
An ideal indicator should be:
Valid: The degree to which the measurement corresponds to the true state of affairs is called validity. In
other words, does the indicator actually measure what
it purports to measure?

Precise: Reliability, reproducibility and repeatability are
synonymous with precision. They reflect the extent to
which repeated measurements of a stable phenomenon
are in agreement. The indicator should give the same
results if used by different individuals and in different
places. Thus precision ensures objectivity.
Sensitive: The indicator should be able to reflect even

small changes in health status. For example, the infant
mortality rate is a sensitive indicator of the health status
and the level of living of a population. Similarly maternal
mortality rate is a sensitive indicator of the provision of
obstetric services.
Specific: The indicator should reflect changes only in
the situation concerned. For example, enrolment in
primary school is specific to measurement of literacy.
Why are health indicators needed? The uses of
Health Indicators are as follows:
• They reflect changes in the health profile over a
specified time span.
• They enable delimitation of backward and priority
areas in a country.
• They permit international comparison.
• They allow evaluation of health services and specific interventions.
• They help to diagnose community needs and perceptions.
• They are helpful to program planners and health
administrators for charting out progress.
• They allow projections for the future.

CHAPTER 2: Basic Concepts in Community Medicine

employment opportunities now available, many of the
health problems confronting the less developed
countries have been erased. However, sedentary
lifestyles an overambitious outlook, excessively aggressive competition, lack of regular exercise, excessive
consumption of alcoholic beverages and smoking, etc.
have brought noncommunicable diseases like diabetes,
hypertension, myocardial infarction, etc. to the forefront.

Similarly, mental health has also been compromised.
Efforts are now under way to tackle development
related problems in the West. An example is the “sin
taxes” imposed by the US government in April 1993,
markedly raising the prices of alcohol and cigarettes,
aimed at reducing their consumption.

Types of Indicators
Indicators can be categorized as vital and behavioral.
VITAL INDICATORS

These encompass:
Mortality indicators: Crude death rate; infant
mortality rate; maternal mortality rate; perinatal
mortality rate, etc.
Morbidity indicators: Incidence and prevalence of
infectious disease. An example of incidence indicator is
the number of new cases of pulmonary tuberculosis in
a given year in a defined population.
Disability indicators: These play a supportive role to
other vital indicators. These include sickness absenteeism
rates; paralytic poliomyelitis rate; blindness prevalence
rate, etc.
Service indicators: These indicators reflect the
provision of health facilities. Examples are proportion
of population served by PHC/subcenters; doctor
population ratio; proportion of population having access
to safe drinking water; literacy rate, etc.
Composite indicators: These indicators encompass 7
many facets and hence provide a better measure. Expec-

PART I: General

tation of life, growth rate, physical quality of life index,
etc. are all comprehensive indicators. The Physical
Quality of Life Index (PQLI) has gained popularity
in recent times.6a It consists of three components: Infant
mortality rate, life expectancy at one year of age and basic
literacy, in population above 15 years of age. All three
components are adequate for international and
intercultural comparisons because no society wants to let
its infants die and all people want to live longer and to
have access to basic literacy. For each component, the
performance of individual countries is placed on a scale
of 0-100, where ‘0’ represents an absolutely defined
‘worst’ performance and ‘100’ represents an absolutely
defined best performance. The three indicators are
averaged after scaling, giving equal weightage to each
component. Thus the final PQLI measure is also scaled
from 0-100. The index shows changes in performance
overtime, even projecting into the future.
The PQLI is not meant to rank countries. It is meant
to show where a country is placed in relation to the
ultimate objective of “PQLI 100”. It thus affords a
country a chance to improve and bridge the gap. Thus
the PQLI is a dynamic indicator and is sensitive to
changes in the health situation. The PQLI for India in
mid 80’s was 43 while it was 94 for the USA.
BEHAVIORAL INDICATORS

These measure utilization of services provided, rates of
compliance and a attitude of populations. Utilization rates
indicate whether the health facilities provided are
adequate, relevant, accessible and acceptable. Hospital
occupancy rates, proportion of population receiving
antenatal care, proportion of population visiting primary
health centers, etc., are all important indicators of utilization.
The health services all over the world, since 1981,
were geared towards achieving the goal of Health for
All by 2000 AD. The WHO has defined some indicators
to measure progress. The suggested HFA indicators are
as follows:
Health policy indicators: Which reveal the level of
political commitment towards health for all.
Social and economic indicators: Related to health:
These indicate the overall development perspectives in
a country.
Indicators of the provision of health care: These
reflect the actual implementation of the stated policy.
Health status indicators: These indicate the benefit
accruing to the population.7

Concepts of Disease
Nature of Disease
8

Disease is easier to appreciate and less abstract than
health. Whereas health denotes a perfect harmony of the

different body systems, disease denotes an aberration of
this harmony. This aberration may range from a biochemical disturbance to severe disability or death. Even
a psychological dysfunction may be classified as disease.
It is important to understand the difference between
the terms disease and illness. Disease may be defined
as the biophysiological phenomena which manifest
themselves as changes in and malfunction of the human
body.8 Illness, on the other hand, is the experience of
being sick. Disease refers to occurrence of something,
i.e. body changes and malfunction. Illness refers to
experience of something, i.e. being sick. Profound
changes and malfunction may occur in the body without
their being experienced by the patient. A classical
example is hypertension, labelled as “the silent killer”.
Blood pressure may be markedly increased, yet an
individual may not have any symptoms. Such a person
has hypertensive disease, but he does not feel he has
any illness. Conversely, a person may feel ill without
having a disease. For example, snake bite by a
nonpoisonous snake may result in palpitation,
perspiration, fainting and even death. The reason is that
strong emotion or belief, in this case about the snake
being poisonous, can result in illness. Another example
is that of a person fainting or going into trance or frenzy
under the belief that he is possessed by a spirit. Thus
people may feel ill in the absence of disease, just as they
can have disease without feeling ill.

Cause of Disease
The concept of disease has evolved constantly over the

ages: (i) In the “miasma” phase, disease was attributed
to bad air and elements. Specific causes of diseases were
unknown in this era. (ii) This was followed by the
“germ” phase during which specific pathogens were
recognised as the cause of disease. This phase marked
a watershed in the concept of disease and the hunt for
pathogens was carried out on a war footing. This gave
an impetus to set up isolation wards and big hospitals.

Concepts of Prevention
The concepts of prevention as enunciated by Leavell
and Clark have stood the test of time. 9 The basic
framework worked out by them has practical utility even
today. The four phases of prevention are: (i) primary
prevention (ii) secondary prevention (iii) tertiary
prevention. These phases are further categorized into
five levels of prevention as follows:
Primary prevention
Health promotion
Specific protection
Secondary prevention
Early diagnosis and
treatment
Tertiary prevention
Disability limitation
Rehabilitation.


Primordial Prevention
It has come from a Latin word ‘primordium’ means

beginning. It means prevention at a stage, when the risk
factors have not yet developed. Primordial prevention
is aimed to eliminate the development of risk factors,
while primary prevention is aimed to reduce the risk of
exposure. Primordial prevention is achieved by health
education. Example being, information is imparted to
school children for adopting and maintaining healthy
lifestyles.

Primary Prevention
The process of primary prevention is limited to the
period before the onset of clinical disease in an
individual. Thus activities directed to prevent the
occurrence of disease in human populations fall in this
category. These activities are related to health promotion
and specific protection.
Health promotion: Health promotion is an all
embracing entity which goes much beyond prevention
of only specific disease. It is the means to attain a state
of “positive health”, or, at least, “freedom from disease”.
Health promotion concerns activities within as well as
outside the health sector. Examples of activities within
the health sector are:
• Health education to increase awareness of health
problems so that populations identify their health
needs and become familiar with preventive strategies
and the health facilities available. This is the only
component which has a long-term and lasting
benefit. Health education can also improve
compliance with advice, medication and follow-up.

• Improved protected water supply systems. These
again have a long-term impact.
• Improvement of environmental sanitation.
• Inculcation of healthy habits.
• Family life education.
Examples of activities outside the health sector
having a bearing on health promotion are those aimed
at increasing literacy, overall socioeconomic
development and industrial production and those
leading to improved agricultural policies and public
distribution systems.

Specific protection: Specific protection has benefitted
to a great extent by improved modern day medical
technology. Technological break-throughs have
provided adequate and appropriate tools for prevention.
However, specific protection dates back to 1753 when
James Lind advocated the use of citrus fruits to seamen
in order to prevent scurvy. Jenner’s discovery of the
smallpox vaccine in 1796 gave a further boost to
strategies for specific protection. Mass chemoprophylaxis
is also a modern tool of specific protection. Other
examples of specific protection are as follows:
• Active immunization by vaccines against measles,
polio, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B, etc.
• Passive immunization by gamma globulins for
tetanus, rabies, viral hepatitis, etc.
• Nutritional supplementation in mid-day school meal
program; ICDS program, etc. to prevent against
PEM.

• Specific nutrient supplementation by vitamin A, iron
and iodine (as iodised salt).
• Chemoprophylaxis with chloroquine to prevent
against malaria in travellers to endemic areas.
• Use of protective goggles in industry.
• Chlorination of water supplies, etc.

CHAPTER 2: Basic Concepts in Community Medicine

The various phases and levels of prevention are not
exactly water tight compartments. Some aspects of each
of the phases may be applicable while tackling specific
diseases. The five levels of prevention as listed above
can be restated in practical terms and recategorized as
the following four methods of prevention:
1. Measures to eliminate or attack the agents of disease
2. Methods to attack the channels of transmission
3. Methods to reduce contact of the agent and the
susceptible host
4. Methods to augment host defence mechanisms.

Secondary Prevention
Secondary prevention comes into play after the disease
process has been initiated in the human host. The aim
of such an approach is to minimize the spread of disease
and to reduce the serious consequences. This is achieved through early diagnosis and treatment. Early
diagnosis and prompt initiation of treatment can be
undertaken at various levels:
a. In the general population or in an age specific population.
b. In captive groups, such as school children, jail inmates

and industrial workers.
c. In a hospital or clinical setting.
Early diagnosis and prompt treatment offers benefits
to the affected individuals as well as to their families and
the community. It helps to reduce the transmission of
infection and, hence, is considered as a method of
prevention. As a preventive strategy, it is most useful
for diseases with long incubation period or long latent
period since sufficient time is available to prevent further
progression of disease and to improve further
progression of disease and to improve prognosis. In
noncommunicable diseases, sufficient lead time should
be available. Lead time refers to the time gained in the
natural history of an evolving chronic disease when
diagnosis is made early.10 It means that if carcinoma
cervix is detected during the presymptomatic period, the
ultimate prognosis may be better. Thus early diagnosis
and prompt treatment can play a very important role.
9
Prompt initiation of treatment should be backed up by
efforts to improve compliance and reduce default.


PART I: General

Screening for disease is an important step, both in
the general population and in high risk groups. This is
especially useful in diseases like leprosy, tuberculosis,
carcinoma cervix, diabetes, etc.

Tertiary Prevention
Tertiary prevention acts at the stage where disease has
got established in the individual. It is a costly venture,
though recent efforts at community based rehabilitation
have tried to bring down the costs. Tertiary prevention
can be applied at the last two levels of prevention.
These are:
Disability limitation: Here the disease has progressed
significantly and has caused some loss of function of a
temporary or permanent nature. The idea is to provide
relief to the affected individual so that a total handicap
can be prevented. This mode of prevention can be illustrated by the example of leprosy. Leprosy can lead to
irreversible ocular damage and blindness when left
untreated. If multidrug therapy is instituted even after
some ocular damage has occurred, total blindness can
still be prevented.
Rehabilitation: Rehabilitation can be considered as a
preventive measure in that if effectively utilized, it can
prevent further social drift of the affected individual.
Social drift is the phenomenon of going down the social
ladder due to loss of ability to generate income caused
by disease.
Rehabilitation is an extremely costly venture. The
aim of rehabilitation is to integrate the affected
individual in the community by optimizing his functional
ability. It involves psychological, vocational and social
and educational intervention.
Psychological rehabilitation is of acute importance as,
immediately after experiencing a handicap, the hitherto
normal individual may not be able to cope up with the

new stress situation. This is known as crisis intervention.
The individual needs to be made to understand the
importance of life and how he can cope with the new
situation.
If the handicapped have to lead a normal life and
are to be accepted by the members of the family and

10

the community, vocational rehabilitation is very
important. Creating job opportunities and training the
handicapped for such jobs go a long way in alleviating
their suffering. Legislation to accord preferential
treatment to the handicapped is also needed. Social
rehabilitation is extremely important to provide adequate
support to the handicapped individual. The family
members should be taught to maintain social support
and involve the disabled in domestic affairs. Stigma
attached to disease should be tackled by effective
education.
Sometimes the handicap may be of such an extent
that vocational rehabilitation may not be possible. An
example is severe mental retardation. In such a
situation, rehabilitation efforts should be geared to train
the individual in activities of daily living.

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